


The L Word

by thesalukihusker



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 10:42:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20581196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesalukihusker/pseuds/thesalukihusker
Summary: Nancy and Jonathan know they love each other. Saying it is the hard part.





	The L Word

**Author's Note:**

> something I wish we would've had in season 3 is a Jancy "I love you" moment. It would have made sense, given where they were at in their relationship. Since we didn't get that moment, I'm going to give them one. Set post-s2. Just a lot of fluff. I don't own Jancy, I just ship them.

Love and affection are feelings that have been easy for Jonathan to express, when it comes to his family. Will and Joyce mean the world to him. He's closed himself off to the rest of the world, and it's protected him.

But then Nancy Wheeler came along, and hunted monsters with him, and fought for justice alongside him, and he  _ might  _ have fallen in love _ . _

Nancy Wheeler, this girl he's known for so long. He's liked her forever, but tried to dismiss it. When they fought monsters together, he realized the extent of those feelings.  _ I should've kissed her after she wrapped my hand, _ he's thought so many times.  _ God knows I wanted to _ . She kissed him on the cheek last Christmas, her hand above his heart, and Jonathan thought he might faint. But then she went back to Steve, and he had his family to take care of.

But there was Nancy. Always Nancy, in the back of his mind. In every other thought he'd have. She asked him to go with her to the lab, and to Sesser to see Murray Bauman. He didn't give it a second thought.  _ You don't have to do this _ , she told him. Jonathan told her to stop saying that. What he really wanted to say was  _ I'd go anywhere with you, Nancy. Because I want to spend time with you. Because I'm in love with you. _

It was scary and overwhelming, these feelings of love for another person. Exciting. Frustrating. All-consuming.  _ What if she didn't feel the same way? That's silly, of course she doesn't.  _ Jonathan talked himself out of making a move - until he didn't. 

Until that night, when her feelings for him became obvious too. When he kissed her, and she kissed him back. When they slept together, finally didn't hide their feelings anymore. When he could touch her, kiss her, start to tell her all about the scary and overwhelming feelings he'd kept inside. 

It's been three-and-a-half weeks since that trip to Murray's. A week and a half since their first date, his first date ever. Jonathan knows there's no  _ might  _ about it. He's in love with Nancy Wheeler. He  _ loves  _ her. And he plans to tell her next time he sees her.

###

Nancy isn't sure exactly when she fell in love with Jonathan. Maybe it was when he pulled her out of that portal in to the Upside Down, and stayed with her. Maybe it was when they cut their hands together, two scars symbolizing their efforts to fight monsters and save the people they love, together. Maybe it was when she gave him the new camera, and her heart melted at the smile Jonathan gave her when she kissed him.

Maybe it was before any of that.

The past year has been hard for Nancy. She's lost her best friend. She ended the year-long relationship she had with Steve. She's struggled to reconcile two different people - the one Nancy tried to be, and the woman she knows she is. And through all of it, one thing became obvious: she could be her true self with Jonathan Byers. There was no pretending. No  _ bullshit _ , as Murray Bauman described it, as she told Steve at the Halloween party. 

Nancy knew that she retreated when she went back to Steve. When they broke up, she tried to retreat from her feelings for Jonathan.  _ It's just because we're doing this together. Because we both want justice for what the Lab has done.  _ It was always  _ because  _ of some excuse Nancy thought she could justify.

And then Jonathan kissed her like no guy ever had before. He told her all the feelings in his heart.  _ I've wanted you for so long, wanted this for so long. You're everything to me.  _ Nancy had never felt more like herself. Never felt more loved, more wanted, more  _ desired _ by another person. There was no bullshit anymore; Jonathan was who she'd fallen in love with. When she said  _ I love you _ to Steve, it had become almost an automatic response; he'd told her the same. With Jonathan, she knows it's love. Nancy feels it in every part of her. 

She doesn't know how Jonathan will handle it. But Nancy knows that she needs to tell him she loves him.

###

It happens a few days after their first date. Nancy is at the Byers' house for family movie night. She wasn't sure about joining them at first - it's a night when they can all just be together - but Jonathan insisted.  _ You're part of the family too. My mom thinks the world of you, and Will is crazy about you, and I lo - _

Nancy knows what Jonathan was about to say. It makes her heart feel full.

They're all in the living room, Nancy and Jonathan on the couch, Will and Joyce in the recliners. There's popcorn and hot chocolate. About halfway through the movie, Jonathan gets a blanket, draping it over the two of them. She moves in closer, puts her head on Jonathan's shoulder as his arms go around her. Nancy catches a glimpse at Joyce, who's smiling adorably at Jonathan. He's blushing a little, and Nancy knows it's because this is all new to them. 

She dozes off before the movie ends. When Nancy wakes up, they're still on the couch, a blanket over them. Jonathan fell asleep too. She wakes him, and he sits up slowly, rubbing his eyes. "You know, now you have to always come over for movie night," Jonathan says, kissing her. "But no sappy romantic movies." His adorable smile makes her feel warm inside. "Okay, but only because I love you," Nancy responds, laughing.

Jonathan is still for a minute, looking at her with wide eyes. He feels like he might cry. "I love you, Jonathan. I do. I've known it for so long."

He holds her, one hand in Nancy's hair, the other wrapped securely around her. "I love  _ you,  _ Nance. I love you, I love you, I love you. And I can't even begin to tell you how good it feels that you love me too."

They remind themselves to tell each other that every day.


End file.
